{
  "abstract": "The need to correct erroneous beliefs is inevitable, especially in a world where information propagates faster than it can be verified. However, passive exposure to corrections is often inadequate for memory updating. Prospective motivational states like curiosity and error-evoked signals like surprise have each been shown to motivate learning and influence memory, yet how they interact to shape information-seeking and memory updating remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that anticipatory curiosity and post-error surprise serve as distinct, compensatory drivers of epistemic motivation and memory updating. Using a paradigm designed to evoke high-confidence errors, we assessed curiosity, surprise, information seeking, and memory updating in participants who were tested either immediately or after a 24-hour delay. We found that while memory updating tested after 24 hours was weaker (relative to immediate testing), active information-seeking protected updated memories from decay. Crucially, when initial curiosity was low, post-error surprise acted as a compensatory trigger to increase information-seeking and durable memory updating. Mediation analyses showed that error-evoked epistemic signals enhanced durable memory updating both directly and indirectly by promoting information-seeking decisions. These findings highlight that when curiosity is lacking, evoking salient errors can promote both active information-seeking and durable memory updating necessary for correcting misconceptions.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Jia-Hou Poh"
    },
    {
      "name": "Abigail Hsiung"
    },
    {
      "name": "Paige Sevchik"
    },
    {
      "name": "Reah Syed"
    },
    {
      "name": "Scott A. Huettel"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. Alison Adcock"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/79q2vfsphtfb5.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.31234/osf.io/yx6ek_v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "79q2vfsphtfb5",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/yx6ek_v1/",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "bepress",
      "Cognitive Neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Cognitive Psychology"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Judgment and Decision Making"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Learning"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Memory"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Social and Behavioral Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2805|Memory Processes and Influences"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7211941190",
  "pdf_url": "https://osf.io/yx6ek/download",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-08",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/79q2vfsphtfb5.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:48Z",
      "native_id": "yx6ek",
      "source": "osf",
      "url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/yx6ek_v1/"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "bepress:Cognitive Neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Interplay of Anticipatory Curiosity and Reactive Surprise drive epistemic motivation and lasting memory updating",
  "title_text": "Interplay of Anticipatory Curiosity and Reactive Surprise drive epistemic motivation and lasting memory updating",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:48Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/79q2vfsphtfb5",
  "venue": "PsyArXiv",
  "versions": []
}